Pretty soon you're talking about real money
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@89th I paid the $1433 and am now hoping the 98k bill just magically disappears. I received no receipt of payment, though the woman on the phone said she'd send me one. Nor have I ever received a bill. The only bill received so far is the one sent to my insurance company. So basically the process is that this surgery center sends a huge out of network bill to the insurer, gets pennies on the dollar for it, and accepts some other "small" amount from the patient. I have to trust the system that the balance of the 98k bill is not legally passed on to me. Having seen no paper yet, I really don't know.
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Horace said, "I have to trust the system..."
No kidding. He actually said that. Look at his post!
It looks like his typing, far as I can tell.Scary, might be Covid-20 or something.
Too much sun? Bad water. Drunk on Jon. Found religion.Ax, help him help him!! Soon he'll be drowning in trust, and then, blam! No return from utopia.
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You either trust the system or you move to Canada.
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It's unbelievable that we have to live with this shit.
You get a bill for $100K, and are told 'not to worry, it's an administrative error'.
Yeah, that just fills me with confidence. I really hope the same people doing the accounting aren't the same ones wielding the scalpels.
Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
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@Doctor-Phibes said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:
I really hope the same people doing the accounting aren't the same ones wielding the scalpels.
OR SURGEON to nurse: "Remind me again, which side is the appendix on? Left or right?"
(With apologies to Bach.
)Success is measured by your discipline and inner peace. – Mike Ditka
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@Catseye3 said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:
@Doctor-Phibes said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:
I really hope the same people doing the accounting aren't the same ones wielding the scalpels.
OR SURGEON to nurse: "Remind me again, which side is the appendix on? Left or right?"
(With apologies to Bach.
)Why are you apologizing to Bach?
Don't tell me he did it again! -
Situs inversus.
Look it up
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@bachophile said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:
Situs inversus.
Look it up
Ever seen it? We had one for a CABG - really screwy from what I understand (I wasn't the gas passer on that one).
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Yesterday I had a followup appt with the doctor, but ended up only seeing his physician's assistant. We got to discussing the next surgery and I asked where it would be done, and mentioned my issues with the previous place. He was pretty shocked to hear of the 98k bill my insurer received. As always, nobody on that side of the issue ever knows about the money issues. (One of the many symptoms of the total lack of market forces in these transactions.) Apparently what I told him got back to the surgeon, who then apparently called the surgery center and gave them a dressing down. The surgery center then called me to try to smooth out any issues I may have had. This doctor and his group is an important customer of theirs and they can't afford to be pissing him off, so all of a sudden it became priority to make sure I'm happy. The surgery center told me that even though they're out of network, they check with the insurer and only charge the patient what the in-network charge would have been. Since I was allegedly below my out of pocket limit for the year, they charged me 1400. I asked whether that 1400 contributes to my out of pocket total, since that payment was made without my insurer's awareness, and she said yes but maybe she'd double check anyway. I let her know that the whole system of billing as out of network and charging the patient separately as if they had paid in-network, did not fill me with confidence that my expenses were being properly tracked and accounted for. Today she called back and told me that I had been overcharged for my previous surgery, and that my out-of-pocket actually had been met, so sorry, so she'll be giving me my 1400 back. My next surgery will be at this same place, and I am to disregard any bills I may see on my insurer's website, because for some reason my insurer lets me know whenever a provider bills them for services provided to me. Imagine that.
My wife sometimes asks me how the insurance system works for health care in America. I try to convey that it's a chaotic mess that must be negotiated anew every time you need medical services, and if you don't pay attention, you get screwed.
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I once paid for a high-deductible Blue Cross policy on my son. Not because he would probably need it, since 20-somethings don't usually meet $10k deductibles.
It's because even if you haven't met your deductible, you pay the network negotiated price.
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@Horace How is your thumb doing? Any improvement?
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You're welcome 89th.
TG it's way more scarred up and way less sensitive to touch and still completely non-functional. Best case scenario is getting worse and worse. I'll know more after this next, last surgery. They may attach a different tendon to the thumb, or they may fuse the thumb at a slight angle so at least I'll have some gripping functionality even with no movement.
Education is extremely important.
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@Horace said in Pretty soon you're talking about real money:
You're welcome 89th.
TG it's way more scarred up and way less sensitive to touch and still completely non-functional. Best case scenario is getting worse and worse. I'll know more after this next, last surgery. They may attach a different tendon to the thumb, or they may fuse the thumb at a slight angle so at least I'll have some gripping functionality even with no movement.
WOW!!! I feel bad for you. Sending the good thoughts to you!!!
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Horace, I forgot. How did you initially injure your thumb, and is it your dominant hand?
Hate to be pushy (not), but are you sure that there isn't a surgeon out there somewhere that could pull off a miracle and fix it back to almost normal? Another state, another country, somewhere where the procedure reflects the latest and greatest?
If I were in your situation, I'd be devastated, given that piano thing I've got.
Best Wishes from the Thin Man.
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I cut the tendon at the inside crook of the thumb, on some broken glass. The repair is time-sensitive. If the first surgery had worked, it would have been fine and more or less back to normal. For some reason the repair did not take though. The tendon just fell apart again immediately after the surgery. I don't know how or why. After that, there was a very long waiting period where the surgeon and physical therapist were wishfully thinking the thumb to start moving again. That did not work, and I got a second opinion. The second doctor had an ultra-sound machine (the first did not) and was able to verify the discontinuity of the tendon. We scheduled a surgery quickly but by then there was too much scarring for a "tommy john" surgery where he would have used another tendon, a spare that God put there for this reason, to splice into the ends of the ruptured one. So instead, he put a synthetic sheath in there, and that's been healing there for a couple months. The next surgery, he will attempt to use yet a different tendon, detach it from where it's supposed to be, and attach it to my thumb. Failing that, he will fuse the joint.
It's not really a downer. It hasn't changed my life much. I now hit the space bar with my left thumb rather than my right thumb. Lucky they make them so wide, under my thumb. There are times in my life where I would have been more depressed about it, such as when I had piano aspirations. When I can get back to lifting weights I'll have as much function as I need.
